In the second edition of the IPL, Deccan Chargers triumphed over Royal Challengers Bangalore in Johannesburg, South Africa on 24th May 2009. The Adam Gilchrist led Deccan Chargers were the best team for the entire duration of the tournament, finishing on top in the group stages and beat Delhi Daredevils in the semi-finals. Royal Challengers Bangalore had finished third in the group stage and had beat Chennai Super Kings to reach the finals.

In the final, Anil Kumble won the toss for Royal Challengers Bangalore and opted to field first. Deccan Chargers scored 143 in 20 overs, with South African Herschelle Gibbs top scoring for them with 53 runs. Captain Anil Kumble was exceptional for Royal Challengers Bangalore with the ball picking up 4 wickets in 4 overs, conceding only 16 runs. Despite his best efforts, Royal Challengers Bangalore failed to chase the score down only managing a total of 129/9. They needed 15 runs in the last over of RP Singh but could only score 8 runs.

With Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) keeping their playoff chances alive, skipper Virat Kohli has credited the bowlers for a handing vital two points to his side in a must-win game against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH).

The first week of Indian Premier League was full of excitement – from last ball finish to the fastest fifty in the history of the Indian Premier League – the first week had it all. Let’s see some of the memorable moments from the first week of the eleventh edition of the IPL.

Virat Kohli on Saturday suggested he will bat at his preferred No.3 position for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in this edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) given the abundance of options in their squad.

The eleventh edition of Indian Premier League is just around the corner and the management of each franchise will be analysing their best playing eleven of the team. All-rounders play an important part in any team’s success and that was one of the reasons every team during the IPL auctions spent heavily on all-rounders. Let’s have a look at best all-rounders from each team.

The eleventh season of the Indian Premier League is just around the corner and fans are all excited to see their favourite stars back in their favourite tournament. The extravaganza will kick-off on April 7 and will see the return of Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals after a gap of two years.

The tenth season of the Indian Premier League is just around the corner and fans are all excited to see their favourite stars back in their favourite tournament. The extravaganza will kick-off on April 7 and will see the return of Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals after a gap of two years.
Wicket-keepers are the key member of any team. However, they are mostly underrated but they can be the biggest difference in the strength and weakness of any team. Let us look at first choice wicketkeepers of every franchise.

Virat Kohli is just not the captain of Indian cricket team – but he is a brand himself. Everything he wears, carry or do is closely followed by media and his fans. Whatever he wears becomes a fashion statement. Lately, Kohli was spotted in the airport carrying an expensive zippy wallet. And media and fans are just going crazy over it. They said Louis Vuitton Zippy wallet in black is considered as the original brand for luxury bags and wallets. According to mensxp, the original cost of this particular wallet is $ 1,250, which is around Rs 81,144.

Team India’s left-handed batsman Shikhar Dhawan was retained by Sunrisers Hyderabad after they opted to use the Right to Match card for him in the Indian Premier League 2018 auction on Saturday in Bengaluru.

Former Royal Challengers Bangalore coach Ray Jennings had earlier predicted that a bust-up between then India coach Anil Kumble and captain Virat Kohli could be possible. Anil Kumble had stepped down as the coach of the Indian team due to Virat Kohli having reservations with his coaching style. Jennings worked with both Kumble and Kohli when they were players at Royal Challengers Bangalore. He had also criticized Virat Kohli’s attitude.

In an interview with Indian newspaper Indian Express, Jennings who coached Royal Challengers Bangalore from 2008 to 2013 blamed Virat Kohli for his sacking from the franchise. He had said, “People generally don’t like being questioned and their shortcomings pointed out but I knew what I did was for his, and the team’s well-being. He is a very talented kid but sometimes thinks he is better than the game.”

The tenth edition of the VIVO Indian Premier League is drawing towards a close. It has been another eventful two months of thrilling action on the field with some intense cricket being played that has captivated and enthralled the fans to no bounds.

The IPL is one of the biggest stages for up and coming talents to showcase their skills while it also captures the imagination of the viewers by fielding some of the biggest names in the international cricket scenes together. It is obvious that the likes of Virat Kohli, AB De Villiers, David Warner, Glenn Maxwell etc., the superstars, hog all the limelight, but there are players that who go about their work away from the spotlight, players who are equally vital to their team but whose contributions often go under the radar.

The tenth edition of the VIVO Indian Premier League is drawing towards a close. It has been another eventful two months of thrilling action on the field with some intense cricket being played that has captivated and enthralled the fans to no bounds.

The IPL is one of the biggest stages for up and coming talents to showcase their skills while it also captures the imagination of the viewers by fielding some of the biggest names in the international cricket scenes together. It is obvious that the likes of Virat Kohli, AB De Villiers, David Warner, Glenn Maxwell etc., the superstars, hog all the limelight, but there are players that who go about their work away from the spotlight, players who are equally vital to their team but whose contributions often go under the radar.

IPL 2017 has been a forgettable season for Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore and the skipper is not hiding from this truth. Kohli has accepted that IPL 2017 is a season which his team would like to leave behind and forget.

Kohli said, “It’s been a season to forget, a season to reflect on. We’ve got a great chance to look at all the things we’ve done wrong and refresh as a franchise.”

The 28-year-old, however, finds some respite in seeing young Avesh Khan bowl the way he bowled in the last game. He said, “Both Harshal and Avesh played with a lot of heart. The way Avesh rushed it onto the batsmen on this pitch, something world-class bowlers couldn’t do, was impressive.”

“We know Harshal’s skill set and he took three big wickets, it’s unfortunate he couldn’t play more,” he said.

Virat Kohli’s Royal Challengers Bangalore have finished their disappointing 10th season of the IPL on a high beating the Delhi Daredevils in their home ground of Feroz Shah Kotla in New Delhi. Opting to bat first, Royal Challengers Bangalore put up a competitive score on the board of 161/6. They then came up with an excellent bowling performance to bowl out Delhi Daredevils for 151 to win the match by 10 runs and bow out of the IPL with their heads held high.

The big guns, Virat Kohli and Chris Gayle fired for Royal Challengers Bangalore helping them to get to a good score on a dry pitch. Chris Gayle in what could be his last match for Royal Challengers Bangalore scored 48 of just 38 deliveries. Virat Kohli showcased some form, which would be a good sign for India heading into the ICC Champions Trophy, scoring 58 off 45 deliveries.

Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Virat Kohli has won the toss and elected to bat first in the 56th and the last league match of the 10th edition of the Indian Premier League between Delhi Daredevils and Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium in New Delhi. Delhi Daredevils are going into the match with an unchanged lineup. Royal Challengers Bangalore are playing with only three foreign players which are Chris Gayle, Shane Watson and Travis Head.

The match has little relevance as the top four spot has already been decided but both the teams will be playing for pride. Royal Challengers Bangalore have had a poor season and are guaranteed to finish at the bottom of the table even if they win the match. Delhi Daredevils, on the other hand, could finish as the best of the rest in the 5th position with a victory.

Royal Challengers Bangalore had an indifferent season this year in IPL. From skipper Virat Kohli to AB de Villiers, almost everyone had a torrid time in the middle. RCB won just two games out of 13 thus far and hopefully, their campaign will end on a winning note against Delhi Daredevils.

But what wrong did RCB did to end their season on such a sorry note? If numbers are to be believed then it is the RCB batsmen who are at fault. The batsmen fell way too early in the innings and it all started with that game against Kolkata Knight Riders.

A look at RCB’s performance in 2016 takes us to the real problem with their failure in IPL 2017. In 2016, captain Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers alone scored 1660 runs with their bat, not to forget five centuries shared between the two, out of which 4 were scored by Virat himself. Kohli was in one hell of a form which he carried forward from WT20. This season he has not been able to do much. In fact, in IPL 2017, the total runs scored by the whole of RCB team is 1608 runs. This is 52 runs less than what Virat and de Villiers had scored last season.

Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Virat Kohli has had a tough IPL season this year. After having won just two games out of 13, it is not too easy to return with a smile on your face. It must have been very difficult for the RCB team members to swallow the successive defeats.

During a recent event where the RCB players went to attend, skipper Virat Kohli said that after successive defeats, his team could do nothing but laugh it off. Kohli said, “It’s very easy to get frustrated and point fingers when you are not doing well but I think we have embraced and accepted what has happened. We have tried to laugh it off at times. There’ve been so helpless situations that we have come back to the change room laughing. We could never think we would experience something like this as a team. It can happen to one or two players, but all 11 feeling the same way is rare.”

He further said, “The kind of season we have had needs no explanation. As players, it hurts us the most. We tried everything to turn things around but it just didn’t happen. These things happen sometimes. Last year was great for us, this year has been the opposite. You have to accept them and move forward,” Kohli said.

Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting said that the reason for Royal Challengers Bangalore misery in IPL 2017 has been the failure of the key players. He especially pointed out Virat Kohli for his team’s failure, saying that the Indian captain has done next to nothing.

Speaking to cricket.com.au, he said, “KL Rahul is a massive loss for them. He had a terrific back-end to last season. He did some amazing things last year so him not being at the top has been a big loss.

“Their big name players just aren’t standing up like they did last year,” Ponting further said.

Ponting said that last year, the big guns on RCB fired together and this was the secret of their success, which is what they lacked this year. he said, “They got on an amazing roll at the back end of last year’s tournament when Kohli was playing out of his skin, de Villiers was playing well, Gayle was chipping in and Watson was doing a good job with bat and ball.

“But so far Kohli has done next to nothing, there have been flashes in the pan from Gayle and AB de Villiers, but the consistency just hasn’t been there.”

Kolkata Knight Riders proved to be too good for Royal Challengers Bangalore on Sunday as they beat them by 6 wickets to register a comfortable victory. One of the key players on Sunday night was Sunil Narine, who not only picked an important wicket of AB de Villiers with the ball but also blasted the RCB bowlers in the first 6 overs to help KKR make a record 105 runs in the powerplay. In the process, he also scored the fastest fifty in the history of Indian Premier League.

However, Sunil Narine was himself shocked at his extraordinary effort with the bat. He said during the post-match presentation ceremony, “Yes, I’m very surprised. Definitely wasn’t expecting something like this.”

Speaking on what was the chat between him and his opening partner Chris Lynn, he said, “Lynny just said, keep your eyes on the ball, maintain your focus and swing through the line. I try to keep it simple and back my ability.”

Things have gone from bad to worst to embarrassing for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the 10th edition of the IPL in their match against Kolkata Knight Riders. Already languishing at the bottom of the table, Kolkata Knight Riders have piled further misery on the Bangalore-based outfit. Chasing down a total of 159, Gautam Gambhir surprised one and all by not coming out to bat and sending the pair of Sunil Narine and Chris Lynn, both of whom are regular openers. And they have responded brilliantly taking the Royal Challengers Bangalore bowlers to the cleaners.

The pair have broken many records while batting in the middle in Bangalore. Sunil Narine was the aggressor, scoring the joint fastest half-century in the history of the IPL in only 15 deliveries. He equals Yusuf Pathan’s record who scored a half-century in 15 balls in 2014 against Sunrisers Hyderabad. The pair scored 105 runs in the six overs of powerplay, the most runs scored in it in the history of the cash-rich tournament. Chris Lynn has scored at a run-rate of 12.00 in the powerplay in the current edition of the IPL. Sunil Narine is has scored at a run rate of 11.14 RPO. strike-rates are highest for batsmen who have faced over 50 balls in the IPL.

Gautam Gambhir has won the toss and elected to field in Match 46 of IPL 2017 against Royal Challengers Bangalore. Gautam Gambhir wants to restrict them as they feel RCB are a better side chasing. Virat Kohli said they had a few troubles chasing here and hence they would have anyways wanted to bat first. Kohli also feels that the attitude is very important now and give the opposition a tough match and wants his team to finish on a high. Travis Head is in for Shane Watson for Royal Challengers Bangalore. Chris Lynn is back for Nathan Coulter-Nile. Suryakumar Yadav and Kuldeep Yadav are out for Ankit Rajpoot and Piyush Chawla.

Royal Challengers Bangalore are having a torrid time of things in the 10th edition of the IPL. They are languishing at the bottom of the table with none of their players looking in decent form in the tournament. Big guns such as Virat Kohli, Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers and Shane Watson have all failed miserably, being big let-downs in the tournament. As a result, Royal Challengers Bangalore have gone from one of the tournament favorites to laughing stock of everybody. One person who has joined in the fun, mocking Royal Challengers Bangalore and their skipper is none other than Bollywood cult figure, Kamaal R Khan.

Many theories have floated around as to why Royal Challengers Bangalore have failed so miserably in the tournament. From an ageing squad to a weak bowling attack, each and every aspect of the squad has been analyzed by the experts. But Kamaal R Khan has come up with quite an interesting theory for Bangalore’s poor performances. He believes Bangalore is performing poorly due to the overly romantic nature of captain Virat Kohli and due to the tax frauds conducted by their former owner Vijay Mallya.

Indian legend Sunil Gavaskar has slammed Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Virat Kohli for getting out on poor shots while playing for RCB in the 10th edition of the IPL. Virat Kohli’s poor form has reflected on Royal Challengers Bangalore this season, with them easily being the worst team in the tournament, languishing at the bottom of the table.

Now Gavaskar has advised Kohli to stop blaming others and have a look in the mirror to take responsibility of Bangalore’s poor performances in the tournament so far. Gavaskar speaking on Extra Innings T20 said, “First thing he should be doing is look himself in the mirror. The shot he played (against KXIP) wasn’t exactly a great shot. The shot he played at Eden Gardens (against KKR) wasn’t a great shot. He (Kohli) has got to say to himself that he is the captain. He has got to stay there. He is not in form so stay there and he should work himself with proper cricketing shots then widen the scope of the shots.”

Successive defeats have dented Kolkata Knight Riders’ hope of getting on to the top of the table. They will look to regain their momentum and remain in the hunt for the knockout stage when they clash with laggards Royal Challengers Bangalore in the 46th game of IPL 2017.

It is an important game for RCB too who need to win it to salvage their pride more than anything. These are the moments when self-pride becomes as important as an IPL trophy. RCB are panicking at the moment in desperation for a win. However, this urgency is causing their downfall more than anything.

Kolkata Knight Riders, who suffered losses against Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rising Pune Supergiant in the last two matches, need two wins out of the remaining three matches to seal their berth in the play-off.

The two-time champions are placed second in the table with 14 points out of 11 matches, followed by RPS and Sunrisers at 14 and 13 points.

RCBs penultimate home game of the season turned out to be a disastrous affair as they were beaten black and blue by an upbeat Kings XI Punjab by 19 runs. Another game, another humiliating loss for Virat Kohlis troops has left the cricketing fraternity bewildered as to how such a star-studded batting line-up can consistently keep falling on their hands and make an easy chase look a herculean task. With this result, Kings XI have now 4 games left and can a superior NRR here gives them a superior chance of qualifying.

With the M.Chinnaswamy still coming out in full flow to support their beloved Bangalore team, Kohli had no hesitation to field first and bring in the Caribbean duo of Samuel Badree and Chris Gayle in place of Travis Head and Adam Milne. Kings XI decided to go in with an unchanged winning XI, the one which routed Delhi for 67 almost a week back. A Hashim Amla wicket early in the innings gave a lot of morale to RCB early on but then the middle order of Shaun Marsh, Manan Vohra and Glenn Maxwell put on some handy runs to avoid a batting collapse. The pitch has been two-paced and hence batting wasnt easy. Axar Patels cameo down the order boosted Kings XIs total to 138.

RCB’s penultimate home game of the season turned out to be a disastrous affair as they were beaten black and blue by an upbeat Kings XI Punjab by 19 runs. Another game, another humiliating loss for Virat Kohli’s troops has left the cricketing fraternity bewildered as to how such a star-studded batting line-up can consistently keep falling on their hands and make an easy chase look a herculean task. With this result, Kings XI have now 4 games left and can a superior NRR here gives them a superior chance of qualifying.

With the M.Chinnaswamy still coming out in full flow to support their beloved Bangalore team, Kohli had no hesitation to field first and bring in the Caribbean duo of Samuel Badree and Chris Gayle in place of Travis Head and Adam Milne. Kings XI decided to go in with an unchanged winning XI, the one which routed Delhi for 67 almost a week back. A Hashim Amla wicket early in the innings gave a lot of morale to RCB early on but then the middle order of Shaun Marsh, Manan Vohra and Glenn Maxwell put on some handy runs to avoid a batting collapse. The pitch has been two-paced and hence batting wasn’t easy. Axar Patel’s cameo down the order boosted Kings XI’s total to 138.

It can never be easy for a captain to repeatedly speak after one batting collapse after another. But Virat Kohli, whose team has just been beaten by 15 runs by KXIP had to face the heat yet again. Its almost the end of the initial round of matches and yet, Royal Challengers Bangalore are in no mans land in terms of their batting performances. In spite of having some of the best batsmen in the world with the likes of Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Chris Gayle and Shane Watson in their ranks, it has been a disaster of all kinds for them throughout the season. Heres what Virat Kohli had to say in the post-match interview to Isa Guha.

“Its really disheartening. I dont know what to say about such games anymore. Its just happening many a times for our likening. Whatever were trying, its not happening on the field. Just not finding a way to make a big score. Some are playing well, some are not applying the right application. Things are not coming together for us. Its quite disheartening. Guys do what they need to but what matters is what happens on the field. Its very difficult to find motivation. Again, with the bat weve been disappointing. Ive never seen so many batting collapses in one season. We didnt plan anything specific for one season. You hit some, you miss some. You try to play with intent. You really dont know what to do sometimes. Sandeep bowled well, he hit the right areas, credit to him.”

It can never be easy for a captain to repeatedly speak after one batting collapse after another. But Virat Kohli, whose team has just been beaten by 15 runs by KXIP had to face the heat yet again. It’s almost the end of the initial round of matches and yet, Royal Challengers Bangalore are in no man’s land in terms of their batting performances. In spite of having some of the best batsmen in the world with the likes of Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Chris Gayle and Shane Watson in their ranks, it has been a disaster of all kinds for them throughout the season. Here’s what Virat Kohli had to say in the post-match interview to Isa Guha.

“It’s really disheartening. I don’t know what to say about such games anymore. It’s just happening many a times for our likening. Whatever we’re trying, it’s not happening on the field. Just not finding a way to make a big score. Some are playing well, some are not applying the right application. Things are not coming together for us. It’s quite disheartening. Guys do what they need to but what matters is what happens on the field. It’s very difficult to find motivation. Again, with the bat we’ve been disappointing. I’ve never seen so many batting collapses in one season. We didn’t plan anything specific for one season. You hit some, you miss some. You try to play with intent. You really don’t know what to do sometimes. Sandeep bowled well, he hit the right areas, credit to him.”

Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Virat Kohli has won the toss and elected to field first in the 43rd match of the 10th edition of the IPL at the M.Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kings XI Punjab. Chris Gayle and Samuel Badree come back in the squad, replacing Travis Head and Adam Milne. Kings XI Punjab have named an unchanged lineup.

Royal Challengers Bangalore are playing for nothing but pride, sitting at the bottom of the table with their playoffs hopes vanished. Kings XI Punjab still have ambitions of qualifying for the playoffs, sitting on the 5th position on the table. In the first match between the two sides this season in Indore, despite AB de Villiers’ best efforts, Kings XI Punjab won the contest. Punjab, in order to keep their hopes alive, will be hoping for more of the same. In the overall head to head, Punjab have won 11 encounters with Bangalore winning 8.

With no chances of qualification in the playoffs, Royal Challengers Bangalore will welcome an all-confident Kings XI Punjab team at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium tonight.

The Bangalore-based outfit are sitting at the bottom of the Indian Premier League log, having won only two of the eleven games they have played this season. Glenn Maxwell led Kings XI Pujab, on the other hand, are sitting fifth on the log, with four victories in nine IPL games. Thing to be noted here is the fact that KXIP still have two more games in their hand.

Virat Kohli’s Bangalore are one of the deadliest squad on paper, however, they have failed to deliver anything positive so far, with their last victory coming back on April 18 against Gujarat Lions. While Kings XI Punjab completely outclasses Delhi Daredevils in their previous fixture, as they restricted them at a mere score of 67 runs, and reached the target without losing a single wicket.

Head To Head:

The last time these two sides met this season, it was Kings XI Punjab who emerged victorious. RCB boarded a total of 148 runs, with AB de Villiers hitting a massive 46-ball 89, but the batting brilliance of Hashim Amla and Glenn Maxwell clinched away the victory with 8 wickets and 33 balls still remaining.

Royal Challengers Bangalore batsman AB de Villiers has said that his team has been below par in IPL 2017. Speaking at a promotional event, he said, “Unfortunately, this year we haven’t played well as wanted to but I think there are some valuable lessons we have learnt throughout the season. I think we have let ourselves down a little bit in the last few games by not competing as well as we would have wanted to.”

‘Want to finish the tournament with dignity’

The South Africa captain added that they might have lost on the opportunity to in the title but they are still focussing on ending the tournament on a high so that they can come back next year strongly. He said, “(Last evening vs MI) I thought we were right in the game. Which was great and that is the kind of thing you want, that you want to compete. I was hoping we could somehow find a way to pull it through but it wasn’t meant to be. We have a few more games left and hopefully will finish the season with dignity.”

RCBs IPL 2017 campaign is already looking like a forlorn sight after yet another defeat to Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede yesterday. Even though their batting didnt fall apart like in the previous collapses against the likes of Kolkata and Gujarat, it proved to be short for a strong Mumbai batting line-up. Rohit Sharma took MI across the line on the second last delivery of the match, thumping a low full toss of Shane Watson to the cover fence. But, the damage wasnt done by Rohit in the last over, it was a crucial six by Hardik Pandya off the penultimate over by Aniket Choudhary that brought a shift in gears from RCB to Mumbai and the rest, as they is history.

RCB’s IPL 2017 campaign is already looking like a forlorn sight after yet another defeat to Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede yesterday. Even though their batting didn’t fall apart like in the previous collapses against the likes of Kolkata and Gujarat, it proved to be short for a strong Mumbai batting line-up. Rohit Sharma took MI across the line on the second last delivery of the match, thumping a low full toss of Shane Watson to the cover fence. But, the damage wasn’t done by Rohit in the last over, it was a crucial six by Hardik Pandya off the penultimate over by Aniket Choudhary that brought a shift in gears from RCB to Mumbai and the rest, as they is history.

Royal Challengers Bangalore have had a woeful tournament in the 10th edition of the IPL. Before the tournament even started the Bangalore-based outfit were hit with a series of injuries. KL Rahul and Mitchell Starc were ruled out of the tournament with injuries. Skipper Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers also missed phases of the tournament with injuries. This certainly hampered their preparations at the start of the tournament and they have never found their groove.

Bangalore have only won two games out of 11 matches they have played in the whole tournament. They have lost 8 matches and drawn one. Their most recent loss came against Mumbai Indians where it seemed for large periods in the match the Bangalore will take home the victory. But again, a lack of penetration in the bowling attack cost them heavily and they ended up losing the game.

In another dent to Virat Kohli and his team’s confidence, a well-constructed Rohit Sharma innings guided Mumbai Indians to a victory and straight to the top of the table and the 1st team to qualify for the play-offs of the IPL 2017. After winning the toss, Virat Kohli chose to field first as he field that at the Wankhede, batting would be better in the 1st innings than 2nd innings. But the plan started backfiring on him as the middle order yet again did not fire. AB de Villiers though was batting splendidly before perishing to Krunal Pandya for the 4th time, the most he’s been dismissed by a bowler in the IPL. Kedar Jadhav and Pawan Negi played some really good cameos to propel RCB’s score to 162 in their quota of 20 overs.

AB de Villiers is hailed as the best batsman in world cricket right now. Not many bowlers can get better of him. He can hit even a yorker for a six. But someone called Krunal Pandya believes otherwise.

On Monday against Royal Challengers Bangalore, in the 38th match of IPL 2017, Krunal Pandya picked AB de Villiers for the fourth time in the tournament, making the great South African batsman his bunny.

A stat reveals that Krunal has bowled 32 deliveries at De Villiers and has conceded just 33 runs. In the process, he has picked him 4 times which is a great achievement to have in your record books.

De Villiers averages just 8.25 against Krunal while his strike rate is a meagre 103.13. These numbers are disrespectful to a batsman of such high class.

Taking a bold decision of batting first in front of a deadly bowling attack of Mumbai Indians, the Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore scored a respectable total of 162 runs in the allotted 20 overs. The decision was quite a surprising one, but looking at the fact that Mumbai lost out at Wankhede while chasing the total against RPS, might have rotated in the head of Virat Kohli. Furthermore, history is evident that RCB are one of the poorest team while chasing the milestone.

They had quite a stable start to their inning, considering the fact that their batting order has been consistently inconsistent till date. They did lose both Kohli and Mandeep Singh a bit early, but a stable partnership of AB de Villiers and Travis Head laid down the foundation. Courtesy to an amazing cameo of Pawan Negi, the visitors set a respectable 162 runs on the board.

Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Virat Kohli has won the toss and elected to field first in the 38th match of the IPL between Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Virat Kohli feels that the day wicket is an ideal situation to bat first. Virat says that they’re still finding the right combinations and momentum. Three, Shane Watson comes in for Samuel Badree. Mandeep Singh and Aniket Chowdhary come in for Sachin Baby and Stuart Binny. Mumbai Indians too made a change. Harbhajan Singh has a nerve issue and sits out. Karn Sharma has come in to replace him.

All but out of contention for the playoffs, Royal Challengers Bangalore would look to salvage a difficult season by sorting out their batting woes when they take on Mumbai Indians in an Indian Premier League match here on Monday.

Mumbai are on the second spot in the IPL standings with 14 points, while Bangalore are second from bottom after having won just two of their 10 games. Mumbai Indians have won seven of their nine games so far and are in contention to make it to the play-offs. When the two sides meet at the Wankhede stadium, the hosts will have a distinct upper-hand as they have just lost one game at the venue.

Bayern Munich chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has insisted that there is no point of discussion regarding the rumours of Ancelotti’s exit from the club, as the Italian is tied up with the Bavarians and the officials are happy to have him. Furthermore, stressing about the same Carlo Ancelotti himself has denied all the reports of his potential exit.

“It’s not true. None of the players said they were not happy,” the head coach told a news conference.

“I speak every day with the players. They are happy about our plans. This is my philosophy, my style, and I’ll continue like this.

“I think this club is different from the outside. They have supported me and they support me now. They have confidence and trust in my club. There is no problem.

“Rummenigge and [president Uli] Hoeness have a lot of experience in their jobs. They know how to deal with teams and coaches.

“We have to live with the critics, this is absolutely normal. I have to be cool and analyse every single decision.

“We have the title really close and we have to sacrifice to have points and finish the Bundesliga as soon as possible.

It’s not easy to be the captain of a sinking ship, especially when you’ve been holding the ship for the entire innings. Virat Kohli yet had to be on the receiving end of a shocking performance by the RCB batting line-up. Nothing seems to go their way and the entire batting line-up seems to disappear when they have to come to bat. Right from the collapse of 49 against KKR, it’s been a downslide for Virat Kohli and RCB and they haven’t been able to recover from it. Virat Kohli did everything he could. While he batted the entire innings and had to see the entire batting explode around him, it wouldn’t have been a pleasant experience. Here’s what Virat Kohli had to say in the post-match interview which was held by one of RCB’s ex-batsman, Kevin Pietersen.

A hat-trick of batting failures for RCB in the IPL 2017 has knocked them out of IPL 2017 after losing to Rising Pune Supergiant by 61 runs in Pune. From the highs of winning against Australia after a hard-fought Test series, this comes as a shocking low for Virat Kohlis team, who have absolutely annihilated today against Pune in their batting again.

After winning the toss and choosing to field first, Virat Kohli had yet again kept Chris Gayle out of the team with Adam Milne leading the pace attack for them. Ben Stokes is yet to recover from his injury and hence sat out of todays game for Pune as well. Rahul Tripathi, who has so far been impressive in the IPL was yet again off the hook, belligerently scoring a 28-ball 37 before perishing on a wicket that didnt look too conducive for free stroke-making. Captain Steve Smith and Manoj Tiwary then took over the reins stamping their authority with a well-crafted 50-run stand that took Pune to a respectable position and eventually, 158 was the target for RCB.

A hat-trick of batting failures for RCB in the IPL 2017 has knocked them out of IPL 2017 after losing to Rising Pune Supergiant by 61 runs in Pune. From the highs of winning against Australia after a hard-fought Test series, this comes as a shocking low for Virat Kohli’s team, who have absolutely annihilated today against Pune in their batting again.

After winning the toss and choosing to field first, Virat Kohli had yet again kept Chris Gayle out of the team with Adam Milne leading the pace attack for them. Ben Stokes is yet to recover from his injury and hence sat out of today’s game for Pune as well. Rahul Tripathi, who has so far been impressive in the IPL was yet again off the hook, belligerently scoring a 28-ball 37 before perishing on a wicket that didn’t look too conducive for free stroke-making. Captain Steve Smith and Manoj Tiwary then took over the reins stamping their authority with a well-crafted 50-run stand that took Pune to a respectable position and eventually, 158 was the target for RCB.

Royal Challengers Bangalore’s IPL campaign is all but over, unless captain Virat Kohli can pull off a miracle. Before the match against Rising Pune Supergiant, Bangalore needed to win all their matches in order to have any hope of qualifying for the playoffs. With another batting collapse in Pune, those hopes are all but dashed.

The famed batting order of Royal Challengers Bangalore have had a woeful season in the IPL. They have now endured three batting collapses in a row. First, they collapsed against Kolkata Knight Riders, with the whole team only managing to score 49 runs in the worst batting performance in IPL history.

Royal Challengers Bangalore have won the toss in the 34th match of IPL 2017 against Rising Pune Supergiant and elected to bowl first. RCB captain Virat Kohli has dropped Mandeep Singh, Aniket Choudhary and Chris Gayle from the squad and has included Sachin Baby, Adam Milne and Stuart Binny.

On the other hand, RPS have made two changes to their side too. They have dropped Faf du Plessis and Shardul Thakur and have brought in Deepak Chahar and Lockie Ferguson in the playing XI.

Defending his decision to bowl first after winning the toss, Kohli said, ” The wicket tends to play well under lights. We got to make use of whatever we can get out of it in the day. We got to take it in our stride, nothing is impossible. We have the team to win five out of five. It’s important to come out and have fun, not take too much pressure of the Playoffs.”

Royal Challengers Bangalore have had a tough outing in IPL 2017 so far. They have lost 6 games out of 9 while one ended as no result. Things have not fallen in Virat Kohli’s plate so far. They have been quite complacent and over-confident in this tournament.

After losing last game to Gujarat Lions and that too at their home ground, RCB are now on backfoot. The chances of RCB qualifying for the tournament are bleak but it is still there. However, the probability of this happening is very, very less.

Here is how RCB can still make it to the playoffs:

RCB will need to win all the remaining games in their hand. If that happens, they will end up on 15 points.

The Virat Kohli-led side should hope for KKR to win 3 games out of their 5 remaining. That way, they will move to 20 and also hope for Mumbai Indians to win 3 out of their 6 remaining games, so that they end up at 18.

Sunrisers Hyderabad should even at least 3 of their remaining 5 games to end up at 17 points.

Rising Pune Supergiant will take on Royal Challengers Bangalore in Pune in the 34th match of IPL 2017. Both these sides have had a tough time in this season and whoever wins today would hope that the tide turns in their favour from here on.

RCB, however, are left with almost no chance of qualifying for the play offs as they have just 5 games to go and even if they win the remaining of their games, they will have to wait for the results of other matches to know their future in the tournament.

On the other hand, RPS are playing better cricket than last year but even then they look far away from being at their best. They still have 6 games left in this season and if they want to get into the last 4, they need to start winning now.

South African chinaman spinner Tabraiz Shamshi will be returning back to his country, leaving his IPL team Royal Challengers Bangalore midway in the IPL season. The reason for his sudden going away has not yet been revealed.

Shamshi was not picked in South Africa’s Champions Trophy squad as well. The Cricket South Africa selectors picked Keshav Maharaj over him for the big tournament coming up in June in England.

The young spinner announced his decision to return to South Africa on social media, where he wrote, “Really sad to be leaving India. People in India have been really awesome. Lots of love and support, and hopefully I can be back next year for the IPL. I really appreciate the passion people have here. Can’t thank the guys of Bengaluru enough. Going to miss this place a lot.”

He played three matches in IPL 2016 but did not get a chance to feature in the playing XI of RCB this season. It was Samuel Badree who was picked ahead of him, every time RCB felt a need to play an extra spinner.

Our sources have learned that Royal Challengers Bangalore players were in no position to take the field against Gujarat Lions after they were too depressed from not getting tickets for the movie Baahubali 2: The Conclusion. The first part ended in suspense, with the most important question in history arising at the end of the film, “Why did Katappa kill Baahubali?”.

Royal Challengers Bangalore players too were pondering upon the answer to this question and after finding that they would have to wait longer for the answer, lost all their concentration and were in no position to take the field against Gujarat Lions.

Virat Kohli had to face the post-match presentation yet again and he was as glum as it gets. Still reeling from Kolkata’s humiliating defeat of his team, the last thing Kohli needed was another demoralising victory but that’s what transpired today in the match between RCB and GL at the Chinnaswamy stadium. Here’s what Virat Kohli had to say in the post-match presentation interview with Ravi Shastri.

“It’s not easy to lose games. When you have a lack of intent and still lose, it’s not easy. Last two games, we have lost in the same way, we can get some momentum in the later stages of the tournament. You need some luck. The only way you can come out it is playing positive cricket. The guys were hesitant in trying to do different things on the field.

Gujarat Lions keep their hopes for qualifying for the play-offs alive with a resounding 7-wicket victory over the Royal Challengers Bangalore. After electing to field first, Suresh Raina himself finished the game off in style. With this result and with 4 points in 8 games, RCB are virtually knocked out of IPL 2017. Virat Kohlis team was under the gun once again after a batting collapse at the top of the order. Australian fast bowler whos turning heads in the tournament, Andrew Tye nicked both Chris Gayle and Travis Head to leave RCB floored at the end of the Powerplay. Somehow, two reviving knocks from Kedar Jadhav and Pawan Negi made sure RCB reached 134 at the end of 20 overs.

Australian fast bowler whos turning heads in the tournament, Andrew Tye nicked both Chris Gayle and Travis Head to leave RCB floored at the end of the Powerplay. Somehow, two reviving knocks from Kedar Jadhav and Pawan Negi made sure RCB reached 134 at the end of 20 overs. RCB’s batting order looked totally out of sorts on a Bangalore pitch which has totally swayed away since it was relaid. Couple of years back, the Bangalore pitch always promised to be a run-feast but off-lately, it’s always behaved a bit sticky and hasn’t churned out as many runs as it used to do.

Gujarat Lions keep their hopes for qualifying for the play-offs alive with a resounding 7-wicket victory over the Royal Challengers Bangalore. After electing to field first, Suresh Raina himself finished the game off in style. With this result and with 4 points in 8 games, RCB are virtually knocked out of IPL 2017. Virat Kohli’s team was under the gun once again after a batting collapse at the top of the order. Australian fast bowler who’s turning heads in the tournament, Andrew Tye nicked both Chris Gayle and Travis Head to leave RCB floored at the end of the Powerplay. Somehow, two reviving knocks from Kedar Jadhav and Pawan Negi made sure RCB reached 134 at the end of 20 overs.

Australian fast bowler who’s turning heads in the tournament, Andrew Tye nicked both Chris Gayle and Travis Head to leave RCB floored at the end of the Powerplay. Somehow, two reviving knocks from Kedar Jadhav and Pawan Negi made sure RCB reached 134 at the end of 20 overs. RCB’s batting order looked totally out of sorts on a Bangalore pitch which has totally swayed away since it was relaid. Couple of years back, the Bangalore pitch always promised to be a run-feast but off-lately, it’s always behaved a bit sticky and hasn’t churned out as many runs as it used to do.

Royal Challengers Bangalore’s batting line-up has crumbled yet again for the 2nd consecutive time in IPL 2017. After a stunning 49 all out against KKR in the last game, they have bowled out for a paltry 125 against Gujarat Lions. Another flop show at the top of the order was triggered by fast bowlers yet again. Andrew Tye, who’s already taken a hat-trick in this season against RPS, was on a hat-trick yet again today, getting the southpaws, Chris Gayle and Travis Head out in back-to-back deliveries.

Much was expected ahead of tonight’s game between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Gujarat Lions. Winning the toss first, Gujarat’s skipper Suresh Raina decided to bowl first and on came the pair of Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli on the pitch.

To everyone’s surprise, both Gayle and Kohli failed to hit the ground running and only managed eight and eleven runs respectively. Travis Head soon followed the duo and the scoreline suggested 22/3. It was a deja-vu all over the Chinnaswamy again. Missed it? Remember the total of 49 against Kolkata Knight Riders. The Virat Kohli-led were given a mere total of 132 runs to chase, but his men fell short in front of the bowling brilliance of Kolkata.

Suresh Raina won the toss and elected to field first against Royal Challengers Bangalore/Gujarat Lions in Match 31 of the Indian Premier League 2017. There was a lot of dew and hence Raina decided to field first. There have been many changes in the Gujarat Lions. James Faulkner comes in Dwayne Smith. Akshdeep Nath goes out as well. Ishan Kishan and Nathu Singh are back for Gujarat as well. Virat Kohli says that the wicket is different than what it was in the previous two seasons. He says that he’s actually happy to bat first as they’ve faced difficulties in bat. Travis Head comes in for Tymal Mills. Aniket Choudhary comes in place of Stuart Binny.

It is not easy being either Virat Kohli or Suresh Raina these days. It is tough to be leading two quality but under-performing sides. Royal Challengers Bangalore and Gujarat Lions are languishing at bottom of the table. RCB with just 2 wins in 8 games and Gujarat with 2 wins in 7 games, have each other’s unexpected company down in the points table.

From here, the going will get tougher for RCB and GL and both of the teams can break the shackles with this match today.

Head to head

Going by the past record, the Royal Challengers Bangalore have an upper edge over the Gujarat Lions. In the four matches that the two sides have played against each other, RCB have been victorious thrice while GL winning only once.

Virat Kohli vs Suresh Raina

In T20 cricket, Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina are top run-getters for India. Virat Kohli has scored 6667 runs while Suresh Raina is 38 runs ahead of the Indian captain, at 6705 runs. In this match, both of them will tussle with each other to for the top spot. Kohli will have a good chance of surpassing Raina while the UP batsman would want to widen the gap of runs between him and the RCB captain.

The 29th fixture of this season’s Indian Premier League between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Sunrisers Hyderabad has been called off due to heavy rain, and with this, both the teams have shared the stakes.

The game was a must-win fixture for the Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore as they were sitting last on the IPL log, while the visiting Hyderabad side, who were coming on the back of a defeat at hands of Rising Pune Supergiant, have secured the third spot in the rankings.

In a total of eights games they have played, the Royal Challengers have only managed two victories – against Delhi Daredevils and Gujarat Lions – and have further lost five. Hyderabad, on the other hand, have had a perfect start this season and so far, they have four victories and three defeats to their name.

With that being said and done, Bangalore’s skipper Virat Kohli will now be hoping to grab a win in their next fixture – which will be played at M. Chinnaswamy stadium itself, against the Suresh Raina-led Gujarat Lions. Furthermore, David Warner’s men will be locking horns against Kings XI Punjab.

49. This is the number that will haunt Royal Challengers Bangalore for a long time. This is how much RCB scored in the last game against Kolkata Knight Riders. This is how much it takes to make you lose confidence. At the same time, this is what is required to tell you that how much is needed to get your team back to make it a perfect 100 percent.
Virat Kohli was furious on the day of the fiasco. The problem with the greats of the game is that their downfall is depended on how secure their egos are. On Sunday, RCB’s ego was dented, more so because they possess some of the great names, Kohli being one himself.

Kolkata Knight Riders make 130 for 1 batting first against Royal Challengers Bangalore. The team’s captain Gautam Gambhir is furious. He has seen his side play the best of cricket but on that night, seeing his side go down from 65 for 1 to 131 all-out, he could not help but get angry.

What does he do then? He goes to the dressing room, heads straight to the shower because he feels his anger will melt down with the 3-4 minutes of cold water dropping on his body. He is done with it but he is not impressed. He comes out and holding all his emotions to himself, he collects his team and tells them they need to win this match. KKR cannot let go the intent from here. The team goes to the ground and does the magic. All the eleven players give their all out in and in return they bowl out the opposition for a paltry 49. A team like RCB, possessing arguably the best batting lineup in the tournament go down in front of quality pace bowling by KKR. This speaks of his brilliance as a leader.

This is not a made up story. This is what Gautam Gambhir, in his latest column for Hindustan Times, spoke. He wrote about all that went in his mind when the team went back to the dressing room after the first inning. He wrote, “For the first time in my seven years with KKR I was fuming. The loss against Gujarat Lions was still haunting. On the back of that, we collapsed from 65 for 1 to 131 all out against RCB. It was unacceptable.”

He further added, “As the innings break was nearing the end I got the entire team together. There may be 60-odd thousand roaring outside our dressing room but inside it was so silent that you could hear people think!

“I started speaking and let go of all I had. I wanted intensity from my teammates. I wanted them to fight. I wanted them to win. I told them whoever dropped on intent should understand that this could be his last game for KKR, at least in my captaincy.”

Many might feel that Gautam Gambhir went overboard but as a leader, this was an important call that he had to take. Right now, we can only draw out positives from his speech in the dressing room because the team backed it and turned it into great results.

KKR captain Gautam Gambhir led his side with ultimate passion last night in Kolkata Knight Riders against Royal Challengers Bangalore, winning the game by 82 runs.

The fast bowlers did the job for KKR, who ran through the RCB batting line-up, bowling them out for a mere 49 runs. Skipper Gautam Gambhir wanted his bowlers to show “intent and pride” which Chris Woakes feels went a long way in Kolkata Knight Riders dismissing RCB for 49 — the lowest ever total in history of Indian Premier League.

“The captain asked us to show some intent and some pride. The opening bowlers set the tone for us. From there on, it was just trying to put the ball in right areas,” the 28-year-old Woakes said after the match.

In an exceptional display of pace bowling up front, Nathan Coulter Nile (3-0-21-3) and Umesh Yadav (3-0-15-1) ripped apart the vaunted RCB top-order in Powerplay, before Woakes (2-0-6-3) and Colin de Grandhomme (1.4-0-4-3) sealed the issue.

Woakes said the strategy was to hit the top of the off- stump. “Coulter-Nile and Umesh got to swing the ball up front.

When I came on, it did not swing but a little bit of movement off the length. If you hit the areas, more often than not it puts the batsmen under pressure especially when wickets are falling around,” Woakes said.

Woakes termed the Eden Gardens strip as a nice one. “The wicket was nice to bowl on. At the Eden Gardens, if you are off the area, you get punished because the outfield is quick. It actually is a good batting surface. As we have seen in previous games, 180 is par which is a good T20 score. But we bowled quite well on that pitch,” he said.

He admitted that at the break, it wasn’t like the team was supremely confident.

“I think I would be lying to say that we came at the half-time saying that we would definitely win the game. Not often you defend 130 particularly here at Eden Gardens,” Woakes said.

None of RCB’s batters could reach a double digit as their respective runs resembled a mobile number — 70189820250 — to succumb to 10th overall lowest in T20s. KKR’s defence of 131 (or under) was also only the 10th time in IPL history.

“We speak about their batting line-up, three of them, in particular, are world-class. We had a high price on their wickets. The fact that we got those three early (Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Chris Gayle), it really made a big difference in us defending the total.”

Woakes also commended the RCB bowlers for doing a good job. “Obviously, we were a little bit down halfway. We were under-par, and thought 160-170 was probably par on that wicket. We obviously did not bat very well but they also did not bat well. At the same time, we bowled well. Sometimes you have to just doff your hat to some good bowling.”

Asked if it was anything to do with the wicket, Woakes said, “I am not too sure. We got off to a good start. We were 87 after 10 overs. It proved that it actually was a decent wicket.”

“We lost wickets through the middle which in a T20 game is always quite crucial. If we take wickets, it’s always hard to get going again,” he said.

Woakes felt that it was a good toss won by Kohli as the good batting surface at the Eden normally prompts opposition captains to opt for chasing.

“It was a good toss to win (for RCB). We actually were looking to bowl first. In general, we like to chase on this ground. It usually is a good batting surface, the outfield is quick and you can always chase down almost any target,” Woakes concluded

Virat Kohli has decided to change his mobile number after it turned out that his mobile number resembled the batting scorecard of his team. Royal Challengers Bangalore could only manage a meager score of 49 against Kolkata Knight Riders. The scorecard of the entire batting unit was 7,0,1,8,9,8,2,0,2,5,0. Co-incidentally, Kohli’s mobile number turned out to be 70189820250.

Kohli was so angered by this that he threw down his cell phone in anger. Even then, when the sim card wasn’t destroyed, Kohli personally decided to destroy it with his feet. Kohli is said to be now on the lookout for a number which won’t have the digits 4 and 9 in it.

It’s never an easy situation to be when you’re the captain of a team that has just been bowled out for 49. None of the batsmen reached double figures and it’ll go down as one of Virat Kohli’s most dreaded days in his cricketing life. But Virat Kohli had to attend the post-match interview and with Michael Hussey interviewing him, he couldn’t stop being ashamed of what had just transpired. Slamming the entire team for the shocking performance and with his head down, Virat Kohli said this in the post-match interview which was aired on TV.

“Our worst batting performance ever. It’s very hurtful standing here after the first half we had. Just reckless batting. I can’t really say anything at the moment. It was that bad. As professional cricketers, this was just not acceptable. It’s small things, the sight screen issues, one guy just got up when the bowler was loading up. We just didn’t turn up in the 2nd innings at all.

We’re going take the positives from the 1st half, there’s nothing to take from the 2nd game. This is just shocking for everyone. There is nothing to be said to the team at the moment. They’ll come out and back themselves. This kind of days doesn’t happen everyday. I’m sure this won’t happen ever again. We’re going home for two days, we’re on the road for quite a bit now. We got to capitalize from that.”

Royal Challengers Bangalore succumbed to a sensational bowling spell by the KKR pacers. Nathan Coulter-Nile was the pick of the bowlers by taking 3 key wickets in his 1st 3-over spell, Umesh Yadav wrecked havoc for Chris Gayle even though he did not take his wicket. Chris Woakes then came into the party to nail the final coffin by having Chris Gayle holed out to that man again, Nathan Coulter-Nile at mid off. With Pawan Negi and Samuel Badree at the crease, the chase has just gone from improbable to impossible. Meanwhile, Twitter lost its head over this clueless collapse of Royal Challengers Bangalore.

At one stage when Sunil Narine got the Eden Gardens going, the score was 60 odd off just 5 overs but a collapse in the middle order ensured that RCB came back strongly to bowl out KKR by 131 in 19.3 overs. The 1st 5 overs looked like one cricket match while the rest 15 looked like a different match altogether! At one stage, Kolkata looked like 200 would be a walk in the park for them but the leggie duo of Yuzvendra Chahal and Samuel Badree bowled quite disciplined, enticing the mistakes from the batsmen and Kolkata could only sum up 131 on what looked like a batting paradise. Here’s how Twitter reacted to this.

The pinch-hitter formula of Sunil Narine remains to be solved as the left-handed ‘opener’ yet again put on an exhibition of shots today against Royal Challengers Bangalore. Opening the bowling, Samuel Badree had to face the wrath of a free-flowing stroke-making showcase by Sunil Narine who took him to the cleaners by smoking him for 18 runs, the most runs conceded in the 1st over in this edition of the IPL. Yet again, Twitter couldn’t help but marvel over Sunil Narine.

Virat Kohli has won the toss and elected to field first against Kolkata Knight Riders in Match 27 of the Indian Premier League. Royal Challengers Bangalore make three changes. Shane Watson goes out for AB de Villiers and Samuel Badree comes in for Travis Head. Tymal Mills, the English sensational pacer with a slower ball comes for the Kiwi pacer, Adam Milne. Gautam Gambhir makes one change with Shakib Al Hasan being left out for his national duties and in comes Colin de Grandhomme. Tymal Mills is someone who’s troubled left-handed batsmen largely in his limited domestic career and Gautam Gambhir may have his work out early in the innings in case if he has to face him.

How could we not talk about Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli when we discuss the game between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders?

The Kolkata crowd have always backed their side till the last moment. They are the most emotional crowd in the whole country and they take pride in the achievement of their team. However, the 27th game of IPL 2017 will be a slightly different emotional ride for them. On one hand, they will have their own side, KKR and on the other hand, RCB, which is led by a new-born hero of the country, whose batting the whole country loves. Virat Kohli. The interesting part is that the crowd will have to choose between two of the hottest head in Indian cricket history, Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli. Irrespective of the result of the match, this is going to be the battle to look out for. IPL’s very own Ashes, we may call it.

M Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru had seen enough of fireworks. And this day was not going to be any different. This day in 2013 when Chris Gayle thought of having some fun in the middle. The Jamaican powerhouse smashed 175 runs in just 66 balls in an IPL game, on this day, in 2013. It remains the highest score by any player in the history of the IPL and the entire world bowed down to Chris Gayle’s feet.

When you are emotionally broken, it is difficult to lift your spirits. Rishabh Pant went through an emotional turmoil two weeks back when his father passed away a day before his IPL side’s Delhi Daredevils first game against Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Pant’s father left him suddenly and it must have come as the biggest setback in his life. But a day after completing his father’s last rites, Pant was back in the field with the Delhi Daredevils, showing that, inside him, there was not only a good cricketer but a great character. He did not only lift his spirits, but also his cricket bat and smashed a 37-ball-56 against RCB, almost winning the game for his side.

The next day Pant made headlines but it would not have been easy on him to go through a roller-coaster ride in a matter of 2 days. For a 20-year-old like him, it would have been a little more difficult but he showed he could go through this. He showed that he is made for bigger things. However, at the same time, not many knew what was going through Pant’s mind when he took the field and what made him chose cricket even at such a time.

The Delhi batsman has finally revealed why he chose to play the match against RCB. The Navbharat Times quoted Pant as saying, “This (against RCB) was the toughest inning of my life. My father always wanted me to play cricket. His dream was to watch me play for India for a long time. This is why I decided to play the game against RCB. It was because of my father that I wanted to play the game. It was tough for me to handle myself but I got over my emotions somehow.”

Pant’s statement has once again revealed his strong character. He has proved that he can surpass anything to play the game which he loves. We can only stand and applause the youngster.

Royal Challengers desperately needed a victory against the Gujarat Lions. And with their big guns firing, they did exactly that at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Rajkot, winning the match against Gujarat Lions by 21 runs. Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli and Kedar Jadhav all made contributions to the winning cause. With this victory, Bangalore finally climb up the table and get off the bottom place, while condemning their opponents to the unwanted spot.

Twitter showered Royal Challengers Bangalore with praises as they outperformed the Gujarat Lions. Here are some of the best reactions:

Virat Kohli may be the undisputed King of the Cricket world, where he could do no wrong with the bat at his hands. But he’ll be the first one to admit that his efforts on the field have been sub-par for the past few months. He is going through a very lean phase as far as fielding is concerned. He was poor on the field for India when they played the Test series at home against Australia, dropping a few catches. Now, the trend has continued into the 10th edition of the IPL, wherein Royal Challengers Bangalore’s match against Gujarat Lions, their skipper was again poor on the field.

Kohli in the match dropped back-to-back catches in two deliveries, both at long on. He first dropped a catch in sixth ball of the 17th over, where Andrew Tye was on strike. It only got worst for the Bangalore skipper, who then dropped another catch in the first ball of the 18th over. On this occasion, young Ishan Kishan was the man who got a massive reprieve.

On the back of brilliant knocks by Chris Gayle who scored 77 off 38 balls and Virat Kohli who scored 64 off 50 deliveries, Royal Challengers Bangalore have registered a score of 213/2 on the board. Kedar Jadhav yet again played a blinder of an innings down the order and is proving out to be quite the perfect guy in the finisher role. Such a big total has put Royal Challengers Bangalore in a commanding position in what is a very important game against fellow strugglers Gujarat Lions.

In the match between Gujarat Lions and Royal Challengers Bangalore in Rajkot, New Zealand cricketer Brendon McCullum came up with a truly superhuman effort. Unfortunately for him, his hat played some vicious tricks with him, leading to his efforts going in vain.

McCullum took a stunning catch on the boundary line, when Chris Gayle who was going all guns blazing mistimed a rare shot. Everyone thought that McCullum had come up with the catch of the tournament but his floppy had touched the boundary rope.

Chris Gayle accomplished his first 50 this IPL and celebrated with a meme instead of a victory sign! The ‘Salt Bae’ meme that grew in popularity after a Turkish chef posted cooking videos with his signature style of applying salt to food. Chris Gayle definitely outdid himself with his runs, but the outrageous moment when he applied salt on his bat was a laugh out loud moment worthy of even more applaud.

Football has seen a medley of victory moments recently that have taken the media by storm, everything from Lionel Messi and his warrior stripes for a cancer cause and Real Madrid’s Isco and his horns up sign for a girl at an autograph signing earlier. Chris Gayle’s celebration definitely runs down the others, however, with definitely no motive for the move and an utterly spontaneous reaction by the batsman. Chris Gayle dominates the field like no one else and this game marks his 10,000th T20 run in this game.

It’s great to see the football trend hitting cricket shelves, lets hope Salt Bae gets more cricket trolls or perhaps Chris Gayle even making it his signature over performance celebration. Its already turned heads on television and the media, its only a short time before our Indian cricket heroes come up with their own versions of harping their victories.

Gujarat Lions captain Suresh Raina has won the toss and elected to field first in the match against Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Rajkot. There has been a host of changes made by both sides. Gujarat Lions have brought back Shivil Kaushik, Aaron Finch and Dhawal Kulkarni back into the squad. For Royal Challengers Bangalore, AB de Villiers and Samuel Badree miss out due to injury with Travis Head and Chris Gayle replacing them.

The match is a must-win situation for both the teams if they want to have any hope of qualifying for the play-offs spot. Both teams have only registered a single solitary victory in the tournament so far and are languishing at the bottom of the table. A loss will make it a virtually impossible task for both the teams to qualify for the playoffs in IPL 2017.

The pitch in Rajkot is expected to be pretty flat in nature and will be a paradise for the batsman. With the batting line-ups on display in Rajkot, it could well turn out to be a high-scoring affair which will no doubt excite the crowd which will flock at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium.

Gujarat Lions and Royal Challengers Bangalore face off in a crucial match in the 20th match of the 10th edition of the IPL in at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Rajkot. The match will be extremely important for both the teams as they occupy the bottom two spots in the table. A defeat will be a massive dent for both the teams in their bid to reach the play-offs spot.

Here are the players on whom the teams will be dependent on to deliver the goods:

AB de Villiers has ruled himself out of the playing XI of Royal Challengers Bangalore in the game against Gujarat Lions in Rajkot. The South African-born batsman wrote on his twitter account that he is down with injury and would not be taking part in the match today.

A new video has surfaced on Facebook showing cricketing sensation Mandeep Singh in a Punjabi Bhangra dance for his engagement party before his wedding that happened last year. The cricketer wedded his wife Jagdeep Jaiswal, a British national, on December 25th in a Gurudwara nearby his home Phagwara in Jalandhar. The cricketer completed the dance routine and then got down on one knee with a ring and proposed to his to-be wife. Mandeep has previously said that his wife is his lucky charm in cricket. Commenting on keeping up to his promises on the field and having an exciting post marriage, the cricketer said, “I told her that we can do whatever we want till December 31. We will think about the honeymoon later, maybe after the Indian Premier League (IPL).”

A striker who fans have high expectations for this IPL, Mandeep was first a part of KKR and later was signed by Kings XI Punjab for IPL 2011. He was auctioned again in 2014 due to his ability. Mandeep was the vice-captain of India at the ICC U-19 World Cup in New Zealand, and his young talent has shown its spark both as a batsman and a fielder. Now at a senior level, he still holds his own on the cricket field, scoring 616 runs for Punjab in the Ranji 2013-2014 Trophy. Mandeep currently plays for Royal Challengers Bangalore, who signed him in IPL 2015.

It will be a contest between the two of the worst teams in the 10th edition of the IPL in 2017 when Gujarat Lions take on Royal Challengers Bangalore in the 20th match of the season at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Rajkot, Gujarat. Gujarat and Bangalore occupy the last two spots on the table, with Gujarat on 7th and Royal Challengers Bangalore on 8th. Thus the match becomes crucial for both the teams and a victory is essential as time is running out for them to qualify for the play-offs spot.

Bangalore have been dealt a massive blow ahead of the match in Rajkot after news came out that talismanic batsman AB de Villiers will be ruled out of the match. The extent of de Villiers’ injury has not yet been revealed.

It was reported widely in the media that Virat Kohli, the Indian and Royal Challengers Bangalore captain had taken responsibility of 15 dogs at Charlie’s Animal Rescue Centre (CARE) in Bangalore. But our sources have now understood that not only will Kohli take care of the dogs, but will also train them for a very important cause- to play cricket for the Royal Challengers Bangalore!

Bangalore despite having a plethora of superstars at their disposal have been highly disappointing in the 10th edition of the Indian Premier League. These performances have left Royal Challengers Bangalore languishing at the bottom of the table in the IPL. Frustrated with their performances, Kohli has taken the biggest decision of his cricketing career and has decided to bring in the 15 dogs into the Royal Challengers Bangalore squad for the rest of the season.

Royal Challengers Bangalore lost the fifth game of IPL 2017 by 27 runs against Rising Pune Supergiant on Sunday. This was the best chance for RCB to make a comeback in the Indian Premier League as they were playing at home and against a side which was struggling themselves.

RCB captain Virat Kohli was not obviously happy with the fact that they lost the match which they should have won. In the post-match presentation ceremony, he clearly stated that they (RCB) don’t deserve to win if they keep on playing the way they are at the moment.

He said, “If we play like this, we don’t deserve to win. The last game, we fought hard. Today we let the game go away right in front of our eyes. We have a few things to address. We can’t think we can sweep sides away at home.”

RCB now has lost 4 games out of five and in order to qualify for the play-offs they will be required to win 7 out of the remaining 9 matches. It is a tough task but Kohli is very positive about making this happen. He said that they have done it before last year when they won four out of four matches to qualify for the knock out stages.

Kohli said, “Last year, we had to win four out of four to qualify but that can’t happen every time. As professional cricketers, you’re playing for a franchise, you are playing in front of a lot of people, we can’t keep doing this. Hopefully, we can turn things around and the players can take the responsibility.”

Time is slowly running out of RCB and they will need to put their brains and skills together, if they want to excel further in the tournament.

Royal Challengers Bangalore were handed a defeat at home by a complete all-round performance by Rising Pune Supergiants, their 2nd victory in 5 matches since the 1st match against Mumbai. Bengaluru pitch seems to have deviated away from its usual flat track to a two-paced attack.

After winning the toss, Kohli had no hesitation to field first. Chris Gayle was surprisingly left out of the playing XI at home with Shane Watson taking his place. Adam Milne too got a place in the RCB XI. Pune romped in Jaydev Unadkat and that eventually, worked wonders for them during the second innings. Rahane and Rahul Tripathi, the two Pune openers started off gradually. The ball didn’t seem to come out naturally on to the bat that was reflecting on the strike rate of the batsmen as well. After a decent start, on came the duo of Australian skipper Steve Smith and former Indian Test skipper, MS Dhoni to take centre stage. While gradually pacing their innings, Dhoni sent one particular ball out of the park that it seemed to know no boundaries. Eventually, Pune had to settle for a score of 161.

This is MS Dhoni’s match. This match between Rising Pune Supergiant versus Royal Challengers Bangalore has him written all over it. No, he has not scored many runs in the match. Just 28 of them on almost the same number of balls. No, he has not even taken the best catch of the IPL.

He, however, has done something which not many in the game are capable of doing. Something which makes him a must in a team’s playing XI, irrespective of what format of the game it is. That six which came out of his bat earlier showed the similar signs. That you can’t keep MS Dhoni out of the game, even though he kept the ball out of the park.

MS Dhoni could not do much with the bat even against Royal Challengers Bangalore in the 17th match if IPL 2017. However, he did one thing which is getting massive respect for the man. On the last ball of the 14th over of RPS innings, MS Dhoni came out to swing his bat with as much as possible and hit bowler Yuzvendra Chahal for a huge, huge six.

The kind of noise that the ball made on being hit by Dhoni’s big blade, cannot be literally explained. The ball went up, up, up in the air and seemed that it would not stop until it has gone out of the orbit. The ball could not be searched in the sky as the spectators tried to find where it actually went.

Finally, thanks to the spider cam, we came to know that the ball was hiding itself from all the eyes and sitting atop the roof od the stadium. It was as if the ball wanted to stay over there and does not want to be taken back for it had to deal with Dhoni’s willow yet again.

Australian batsman and Sunrisers Hyderabad captain David Warner gave a fitting tribute to MS Dhoni’s massive six.

It looked like he was struggling. It seemed like he was totally out of form. It seemed like he doesn’t have it in him anymore. It looked like the end of MS Dhoni. But just like MS Dhoni, out of the blue, Dhoni decided to send one out of the park and how!

In the 14th over against Yuzvendra Chahal, Dhoni was facing ball no 1 and was trying to attack him by stepping down the track. After a couple of initial hiccups, Dhoni decided to stay in his crease and whack it over mid-wicket. Luckily for him, the ball did not travel all the way with Adam Milne in the deep sweeping up the ball for just a single. Ball no 5 – Smith on strike. Wide ball.

Royal Challengers Bangalore won the toss and decided to bowl first against Rising Pune Supergiant. Bangalore has always been a batting paradise and it is expected to play the same way in this match as well. No wonder why Virat Kohli opted to chase.

RCB has brought two big changes in the squad. Chris Gayle has been dropped to make way for Shane Watson whereas Adam Milne comes in for Tymal Mills, who is down with fever. RCB are looking to get their combinations right in this match, at the same time trying to make sure that they land on the winning side.

On the other hand, Rising Pune Supergiant have brought Jaydev Unadkat in the playing XI

The Steve Smith-led side too knows it is very important to start winning the match. The tournament is heading to the crucial stages where even one loss would subtract the chance of getting qualified for the play-offs. Both the teams have won just 1 game so far, losing 3 games and the focus will be to win this game so that they can push hard in the tournament.

Lost 3, won 1. This the journey of Royal Challengers Bangalore and Rising Pune Supergiant in a nutshell. When we go into the details, we realize the reason for the dismal performances of the two teams and the result is pretty contrasting.

RCB could not deal with the replacements of the two big names for the first two matches and had a captain who had not played international cricket for a long time. Even after the arrival of these big names, the team seems to be lacking something.

RCB’s problem is unlike RPS, who gave been struggling to get their best playing XI on the field. That is not something that troubles RCB currently. Their bowlers are doing good, both Virat and De Villiers have found the form back only in their respective comeback games in IPL 2017. It is the eagerness to win matches by playing collectively is what is missing.

RPS, on the other hand, have more than three big players out of form. MS Dhoni, Ben Stokes have not been able to produce any result. Also, Ajinkya Rahane has been falling too soon. One can say that despite being two great teams, RCB and RPS have found different ways to become a mediocre side this season and when they take on each other, they will have a lot to prove against each other.

While RCB can take heart from the fact that they have beaten RPS on all the two occasions they met last year, RPS know that this is the match where they can change their fate this season.

RPS and RCB have a lot to play for but for now, a win will do for both of the teams.

India vs Australia, 2.0. Virat Kohli vs Steve Smith, round 2 is about to begin as Royal Challengers Bangalore take on Rising Pune Supergiant in the 17th match of IPL 2017. After a lay-off from cricket with an injury to his shoulder, Virat Kohli made a comeback to the RCB setup just last game and didn’t take any time getting right back to groove, scoring a fluent 50. Now at home against Steve Smith, where he had refused to accept a gesture of friendship, a beer from the Aussie captain at the end of the Test series, will be in focus again. While Virat and Steve may have

Now at home in Bengaluru against Steve Smith, where he had refused to accept a gesture of friendship, a beer from the Aussie captain at the end of the Test series, will be in focus again. While Virat and Steve may have a mutual respect on the field, being two of the best players across all formats in the world currently, it’s also interesting as S

Royal Challengers Bangalore and Rising Pune Supergiant are probably two teams in the Indian Premier League 2017 with some great names but poor performances. Names like Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Steve Smith, MS Dhoni can send chills in the spine of the bowlers. However, the performances have not been up to the mark in the tournament thus far.

The two sides will be meeting each other tonight in M Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru. This is also a great chance for the players in both the teams to show why they are big names.

RCB’s Chris Gayle has been struggling for form but he should play in Sunday’s game because of what he is capable of doing at this small ground. The hosts lost their last game at home but don’t think Virat Kohli will be bringing any change in the playing XI. The players just need to reunite and play together because individual greatness cannot win matches.

Rising Pune Supergiant have a super problem in front of them regarding the playing XI. Their batsmen are not clicking, bowlers are not performing and fielders are not taking enough catches. Steve Smith as captain have too much to do in this new franchise. MS Dhoni has been at the center of all the failures. Ben Stokes, also, not being either among wickets or runs.

There is a lot to change for Rising Pun Supergiant more than just the playing XI. This change is needed in this match.

I will never be friends with Australians again.” These words by Royal Challengers captain Virat Kohli will echo in his ears when he walks out for the toss in the game against Rising Pune Supergiant. From the other end it will be Steve Smith, who might be one of those Australians who Virat does not wants to be friends with.

The heated exchange, both on and off the field, will make the RCB-RPS battle on Sunday an affair to watch. Smith had been apologetic about the sledging that happened from Australian side and he wanted to have a beer with the Indians to bury the differences occurred during the course of the series. However, Virat Kohli and his team refused the offer.

When they meet as captains of their respective IPL teams, in different colours however, nostalgia will occur for both Kohli and Smith. While Smith has buried the past behind, Kohli does not see an end to it. He might have melted down a bit but he is not someone who likes to forget things. He plays the game with full emotions and is not ready to hide them, even in front of the media.

The Indian captain has always been outspoken, and more so after becoming the captain. He says things and does it. Kohli is one clever character who speaks how he has developed his strength but never utters about his weaknesses. Over the years, media and fans have been confused between his strengths and weaknesses. His expressive nature has been criticized a lit but that never changed the ever-improving Virat Kohli. He maintained that it his natural game was aggression and the story remains the same off the field too.

Smith, on the other hand, is unlike his successors. He is aggressive but not as much as Kohli. He was big-hearted to offer drinks to Indians and one must say that here, he cannot be criticized. Kohli’s outburst against Smith and his boys can also not be criticized. Kohli likes to be open about everything. Smith no so very much.

When they take on each other, some more words might be exchanged and hopefully, there will be a place for a beer in the dressing room at the end of the match.

Royal Challengers Bangalore are not having the best of time in the middle, having lost three games out of four. Captain Virat Kohli, in his comeback game, scored a brilliant fifty but it was not enough to take the team cross the winning line.
Kohli has been working really hard on his game. It is never easy to make a comeback in a busy tournament like IPL after a long lay-off. The stiffness in the body is tough to get rid of but even then Kohli showed no such signs in his comeback game and made sure his team had a decent total to defend.

However, Virat Kohli felt soreness yesterday. He posted a picture on his Instagram where he is lying in his hotel room bed, quite relaxed. He wrote in the caption, “An off day and watching the ipl games is always a good feeling. Recovering from soreness of playing after a month.”

Kieron Pollard proved why he is always in the playing XI of the Mumbai Indians when he scored a match-winning 47-ball-70 against Royal Challengers Bangalore in Bengaluru.

Mumbai Indians were 7 for 4 when Pollard came out to bat and it looked like as if RCB was going to finish the formalities quickly. Another West Indian Samuel Badree had scalped hattrick in only his third over to cause a heart failure to Mumbai Indians. But it was Pollard who turned out to be the match-winner.

Samuel Badree wreck havoc with the ball in his first match of VIVO IPL 2017 as he took a hat-trick to dent the Mumbai Indians innings in the second over of the match.

Badree took three wickets on the trot, scalping the wickets of Parthiv Patel, Mitchell McClenaghan and Rohit Sharma to take RCB back in the game. In the first over of the innings, Stuart Binny got rid of dangerous Jos Buttler. But what Badree did was absolute carnage with the ball. It was a masterstroke decision by captain Virat Kohli to give the ball in hands of Samuel Badree who bowled just in the right areas.

He got Parthiv’s wicket by making him drive through the covers. Badree had intentionally put Chris Gayle at short cover position to take the catch and this is what happened.

Mumbai then did a KKR by sending Mitchell McClenaghan at number 4 to try and make some quick runs. The plan failed as he hit one up in the air. After the fall of the third wicket came Rohit Sharma, who was too lazy to come forward and before he knew the ball entered between his pad and bat to disturb his stumps, giving Samuel Badree a rare hattrick.

This is not the first time that Badree has taken spree of wickets at the start of the innings. In Big Bash League in 2016, he took five wickets for Brisbane Heat under the first six overs to dismantle the Melbourne Stars’ innings.

Samuel Badree has rocked the Mumbai top-order in their run-chase of 143 against the Royal Challengers Bangalore in his first match for the franchise in the 2017 edition by claiming a hat-trick. He claimed the wickets of Parthiv Patel, Micthell McClenaghan and captain Rohit Sharma to complete his stunning hat-trick.

Mumbai Indians would have surely fancied their chances of chasing a low score of 143 down, but Samuel Badree had other plans turning the entire complexion of the match in the third over of the Mumbai Indians batting innings. This is not the first time where Badree has cleaned up a top order. He did a similar job for Brisbane Heat against Melbourne Stars, opening the bowling in the second innings in the 2016 edition of the Big Bash League. Due to this reason, Badree often opens the bowling despite being a spinner.

The first innings in the RCB vs MI game in Bengaluru belonged to Virat Kohli, who scored 62 runs off 46 balls to make a great comeback. After his departure, it was Rohit Sharma’s turn to turn the heads.

Virat Kohli scored a perfect fifty in his comeback game against Mumbai Indians in the twelfth match of the Indian Premier League. Kohli looked in supreme touch from the first ball, making sure they did not lose wicket in the first few years.

Mumbai Indians captain won the toss and elected to field first. Rohit, at the toss, said that he is looking to chase the target. Chasing has been the call of the captains this season and Rohit did not want to break any momentum. Mumbai Indians won their last two games chasing only and the team does not want to change anything.

RCB Captain Virat Kohli is back to the playing XI. He too wanted to bowl first. He said, “We too wanted to bowl first but there is nothing wrong with batting first. It is a good track and we expect to put good runs on the board.”

Royal Challengers Bangalore have a lot to think about before they enter the M Chinnaswamy stadium to play their first home game against Mumbai Indians on Friday.

Mumbai Indians have got on the track after winning the last two games in an emphatic manner. RCB are fighting many battles within battles. First, it was the spree of injuries which dented them and then the form of the players, which affected their start in the tournament. Now that Virat Kohli is back, they can take a sigh of relief. However, there is more headache ahead.

RCB might be playing at home but their record has not been a great one against Mumbai Indians in Bengaluru. Mumbai and Bangalore have played each other 7 times at M Chinnaswamy, out of which RCB has won just one game while Mumbai winning the remaining 6.

Even their overall record is not so much motivational. RCB has met MI 19 times in total and has lost on 11 occasions while winning 8 times. So, here too, MI has an edge over them.

But Virat Kohli and company would not like to dwell much into history. They are a new team and it will be a new day. History might not be their favour but the present is.

Brace yourself for the biggest battle thus far in IPL. In the first game today, Royal Challengers Bangalore are going to take on Mumbai Indians in M Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru.

Not much can be said in terms of who is ahead in the game but one thing is for sure that this is going to be a closely-fought contest.

The one good sign that RCB has is the arrival of captain Virat Kohli in the playing XI. The 28-year-old passed the fitness test on Thursday and will be leading the side today.

He has been itching to get on the field. With him coming in the playing XI, expect a few changes to occur as well. Mandeep Singh might have to sit in this match. Also, RCB will look to give another chance to Aniket Choudhary who went for too many runs in the first game against Sunrisers Hyderabad.

As far as Mumbai Indians are concerned, they have quickly fixed themselves after a bad start. The win against KKR gave them a huge boost and the confidence in their game was seen in the way they beat SRH in their last game.

RCB captain Virat Kohli is set to return to the field. In an Instagram video which Virat Kohli posted on Tuesday, he is seen lifting weights. In the caption, he has written, “Can’t wait to get back onto the field. Almost there now 14th April.”

Virat Kohli injured his right shoulder while fielding during the third Test in Ranchi against Australia last month. He could not play in the last and fourth Test in Dharamsala as well. Due to the injury, Virat has missed the first three games of VIVO IPL 2017 and quite clearly, RCB has missed the champion batsman as out of 3 games, they have lost 2 and won just 1.

Kohli’s presence in the team will give the team a huge boost. His energy and passion is contagious and it might be the missing element in the RCB ranks currently. Though he is out of form but his presence in the team alone will lift the spirit of the cricketers.

In the last match against Kings XI Punjab, AB de Villiers marked his return to form, smashing 89 runs in just 46 balls. With him and Kohli now coming back, expect more fireworks when RCB take the field next.

RCB are playing their next game against Mumbai Indians on April 14 in Bengaluru. This is the same match which will mark the return of King Kohli.

It was raining sixes last night in Indore as AB de Villiers marked his return to IPL cricket after missing first two games of the tournament.
His 46-ball-89 inning took everyone by surprise as De Villiers was playing after a long time and what a show it was when he started pelting the Kings XI bowlers out of the park.
During the match, while speaking to the commentators, De Villiers himself spoke on why he was able to make a successful comeback in IPL 2017. He was chatting with commentators during the match while fielding and on being asked on how he was able to defeat rustiness, he said that rustiness was more of a mental thing and a phone call to his wife gave him the motivation to do well.

Kings XI Punjab have easily sailed to victory, annihilating Royal Challengers Bangalore by 7 wickets in their 1st encounter in Indore. Shane Watson after winning the toss surprised everyone by saying that Chris Gayle has been dropped in place of AB de Villiers, who is making a comeback to cricket after a long layout due to injury.
But Shane Watson’s decision to bat first didn’t look too smart when he became the 1st calamity, getting castled by Axar Patel in the 1st over itself. Out came out AB de Villiers, amidst a huge cheer of the Indore crowd.
AB de Villiers had to curb his naturally destructive T20 mode as wickets kept tumbling at the other end. Vishnu Vinod, the opener in this game who has quite a reputation as an opener in the domestic circuit couldn’t replicate that form and fell early along with Kedar Jadhav.

Despite the best efforts of AB de Villiers, Royal Challengers Bangalore simply could not put up a big enough score on the board to challenge the Kings XI Punjab. Due to the calm approach of Hashim Amla and a quickfire cameo by skipper Glenn Maxwell, Punjab easily chased down Bangalore’s total of 148 with 33 balls remaining.

Twitter showered Punjab’s aggressive approach with some well deserved praise.

Wriddhiman Saha is widely regarded as the best wicketkeeper in India currently. In the match between Kings XI Punjab and Royal Challengers Bangalore in the 10th edition of the IPL, Saha further reaffirmed this fact by taking a stunning catch to dismiss Mandeep Singh off the bowling of Indian pacer Varun Aaron. It was well and truly a stunning catch which will be a part of many highlight reels in the future.

Mandeep miscued a shot of a short delivery and it seemed that he would get away with it and the ball would land in no man’s land. But Saha had other ideas and sprinted back like a man on a mission to pull off one of the best catches in the current edition of the IPL. The catch was very reminiscent of Matthew Wade’s catch of the bowling of Mitchell Johnson in a Test match against Sri Lanka to dismiss Kumar Sangakkara in Melbourne.

Royal Challengers Bangalore won the toss against Kings XI Punjab and elected to bat first. The pitch in the Holkar stadium is expected to be a batting track and this decision seems to be backed by the same reason.

The good news for RCB is that AB de Villiers is back. He replaces Chris Gayle in the playing XI because the Caribbean star has been struggling with the bat. Expect a run feast in this match as some of the best batsmen in the tournament will be on show and the fact that RCB is batting first, some monstrous hits will be on display.

The Kings XI Punjab have brought one change in the playing XI as well. Swapnil Singh has been shown the door and Varun Aaron has been given a go against his ex-team.

It will be a battle of two teams riding the momentum when Kings XI Punjab face Royal Challengers Bangalore in a clash at the Holkar stadium in Indore. This clash will be a contest between the two batting line-ups with bowling being a weakness of both the sides. With a flat wicket on offer in the Holkar stadium, a run feast is surely on offer.

Here are the 5 key players to watch out for in the clash between Kings XI Punjab and Royal Challengers Bangalore:

VIVO IPL 2017 is getting interesting with each match. The last match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians saw a thrilling end and expect the same when Royal Challengers Bangalore meet Kings XI Punjab in another exciting content in Indore on Monday.

The big news is that AB de Villiers is expected to return to the RCB playing XI. He said during an event that he is close to 100 percent fit and hopefully, his name will be up for selection.

RCB has won one game and lost one thus far. On the other hand, Kings XI Punjab have started their campaign on a positive note, winning the first game easily against the Rising Pune Supergiant. Under Glenn Maxwell, the Kings XI are looking a formidable unit and more importantly, a confident bunch of players who have left the history behind.

RCB, too, will be hoping that with the incoming of AB de Villiers in the team, the balance of team returns. They might have won the last game against Delhi Daredevils but the fact remains that they are far away from being at their best.

Delhi Daredevils lost their first game of VIVO IPL 2017 on Saturday against Royal Challengers Bangalore by 15 runs. It was the heroic effort of Rishabh Pant which took the visitors so close to the total or else they have given up on the game very soon.

Pant, who was coming into the game after completing his father’s last rites had very less time to calm him down and take the field. His mental strength went through a tough test and the young batsman passed it with flying colours as he scored 57 runs off 36 balls on the night of the big game.

There was one big reason why Delhi Daredevils lost the game. Let us look at the reason.

Pant came in the 11th over to bat when Delhi were 84 for 4. He batted superbly till the 16th over but is stats are to be believed, he scored just 8 runs in 5 balls from over 16.3 to 19.1, because he did not get much strike.

Royal Challengers Bangalore fans are celebrating their hard-fought victory against Delhi Daredevils in their second match of the tournament. Now, stand-in captain Shane Watson has given further joy to RCB fans by indicating that star batsman AB de Villiers will be fit for Bangalore’s next match against the Kings XI Punjab. Bangalore face Kings XI Punjab on 10th April at the Holkar stadium in Indore.

AB de Villiers was ruled out for the start of the tournament due to a troubling back injury. He has missed Bangalore’s first two games of the season against Sunrisers Hyderabad and the Delhi Daredevils. He has been a huge miss for Bangalore who are already missing Virat Kohli and KL Rahul, who both are suffering from shoulder injuries.

Royal Challengers Bangalore, despite a gutsy effort by Rishabh Pant, have managed to win their second match of the tournament against the Delhi Daredevils at the M. Chinaswamy stadium in Bangalore. Bangalore first managed to put 157 runs on the board due to the heroics of Kedar Jadhav and then came up with a brilliant effort with the ball as a bowling unit to defend the score. They managed to restrict the Delhi Daredevils to a score of 142/9.

For the most part, it seemed that Bangalore had got a under-par score in a good batting deck in Bangalore. But their much-criticized bowling unit finally came good and delivered a brilliant performance to restrict Delhi Daredevils. Credit also has to go to captain Shane Watson, who decided to give the final over of the match to Pawan Negi who hadn’t bowled a single over in the match. Delhi only required 19 overs in the final over, considering Pant was going all guns blazing and that he was facing a left-arm spinner.

The fifth fixture of this season’s IPL took off with a blistering start for the home side Royal Challengers Bangalore.

The David Warner-led side had won and quite surprisingly, elected to bat. On came the hard-hitter Chris Gayle, but the over-hyped build-up was soon put to ground as the West Indian failed to deliver any goods, with Chris Morris showing him his way back to pavilion. Soon after, they lost a couple of wickets in quick succession in form of Mandeep Singh and David Warner. While Mandeep failed to put his mark, scoring just 12 runs, the Aussie banged a 24-ball 24.

On came Kedar Jadhav and this is where the home team started gaining momentum. The 32-year-old Pune-born batsman had a slow start but eventually got off to a flyer. He went on to dismantle some of the best bowlers and reached the first benchmark, hitting the half century. Most notably, the 12th over, from Amit Misra, proved out to be the clincher for RCB as Jadhav alone scored a whopping 24 runs in that over.

The fifth match of the IPL is crucial for both Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Daredevils. While Delhi will look to their IPL campaign off to a flyer, Royal Challengers will look to bounce back after their crushing defeat at the hands of the defending champions, Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Both teams will be dependent on a certain set of players to come up with big performances and win their team the match.

Here are the 5 key players to look out for in the contest between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Daredevils:

Royal Challengers Bangalore had an inauspicious start to the tournament losing their opening match against defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad. They were outclassed in all the departments of the game and will now be hoping for an upturn in their form and they will surely find solitude in their home fortress of Bangalore. They will face a Delhi Daredevils side, who will look forward to opening their campaign in the 10th edition of the IPL with a victory.

Bangalore are still without their key players Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers. So they will be hoping that the senior members of the team step up to the plate and improve their performances. More will be expected from the likes of Chris Gayle, Shane Watson and Kedar Jadhav in their batting order. Tymal Mills, their marquee signing in 2017 auctions will also be expected to perform better.

The opening match of the 10th edition of the IPL has had everything that a spectator has come to expect from the cash-rich T20 league. The opening match between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Royal Challengers Bangalore saw some brilliant efforts from players. Yuvraj Singh had a brilliant day in the field, exhilarating the crowd with his big hitting. Sunrisers Hyderabad also had a brilliant day on the field with the ball, with a professional bowling display to win the match.

In the end, the Sunrisers Hyderabad were too goo for Royal Challengers Bangalore, who will be hoping that with key players returning from injury soon, their fortunes will turn around in the upcoming matches. In a rare moment of quality for them, Mandeep Singh had a brilliant effort on the field. Unfortunately, he could not hold onto the catch, when Yuvraj Singh was going berserk in the match.

Delhi Daredevils opener Shreyas Iyer will miss the first few game of the IPL as he is suffering from chicken pox. The injury comes as another blow to Delhi Daredevils who have already lost two key players, Quinton de Kock and JP Duminy from the upcoming tenth edition of the Indian Premier League. Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews is also set to miss out on the first half of the tournament with an injury.

Iyer has established himself as one of the key Indian players in the young Delhi Daredevils unit. He also had an outstanding domestic season for Mumbai, being their top run scorer and is on the verge of a breakthrough in the Indian side, being called up as a back-up to Virat Kohli in the fourth Test match against Australia at Dharamsala.

Royal Challengers Bangalore have announced that former Australian captain Shane Watson will lead the IPL franchise in the absence of regular skipper Virat Kohli. Coach Daniel Vettel had earlier indicated that AB de Villiers would lead the side in Kohli’s absence, but the South African is set to miss the first match of the season against Sunrisers Hyderabad on April 5.

De Villiers missed the final of Momentum Cup in South Africa with a back issue and he is yet to recover from the injury. Daniel Vettori revealed that de Villiers should be back in action by the time RCB face Delhi Daredevils in their second match on April 8. “He still has some minor discomfort and we felt that couple of days off would be best before we have him back in action. We hope to see him on the field in good form by 8th April match against Delhi Daredevils,” he said.

There is a lot of speculation surrounding Virat Kohli’s injury status ahead of the 10th edition of the IPL. Kohli suffered a serious shoulder injury while fielding in the third Test against Australia in Ranchi. This injury also led to him missing the fourth Test of the series and the series decider in Dharamsala, which India won.

The latest update which the BCCI has given is that the Royal Challengers Bangalore captain is currently undergoing shoulder rehabilitation and that further updates will be given by the second week of April. Still, there is no confirmation around on when exactly will Kohli play in the IPL, if he plays at all.

According to reports coming out of South Africa, AB de Villiers is likely to miss the upcoming edition of the IPL due to a serious back injury. The reports state that de Villiers was set to play in the final of the Momentum Cup, but suffered a back injury prior to the match. The extent of his injury is yet not known and Royal Challengers Banglore have yet not commented on the reports. But the stories coming out of South Africa indicate that the injury is serious which could rule the talismanic South African out of the IPL.

Royal Challengers Bangalore have already suffered some huge injury blows with KL Rahul and Mitchell Starc already ruled out of the tournament. Skipper Virat Kohli is also likely to miss the first few weeks of the tournament due to a shoulder injury sustained during the Test series between India and Australia.

According to a fake Virat Kohli account, Mitchell Starc the Australian pace spearhead direct messaged him on Twitter, assuming that he was the real Virat Kohli, joking about not finding a new IPL franchise, due to the acrimony between the Indian and Australian players, which arose during the four-match Test series in India.

The series between India and Australia saw a breakdown of many a relationships between the two sets of players, with a lot of sledging on the field followed by constant bickering in the media. The Australian media also played its part, leveling some ludicrous allegations against Indian skipper Virat Kohli and coach Anil Kumble. After the series was done with, Kohli also commented that friendships between Indians and Australians had ended after the series, a comment he later clarified on Twitter.

In a big blow for Royal Challengers Bangalore, Indian opener KL Rahul has been ruled out of the entire season of IPL-10 with a shoulder injury. This is another setback for the Bengaluru-based franchise after their captain Virat Kohli is set to miss the first few weeks of the season with a shoulder injury as well.

According to reports in ESPN Cricinfo, Rahul injured his shoulder five weeks ago in the first Test against Australia in Pune. He continued to play through the pain for the rest of the series and one of India’s best performers with the bat in the series. Cricinfo also states that Bangalore were made aware of Rahul’s injury and have been preparing for Rahul’s injury-enforced exit from the tournament. Rahul was the third highest run-scorer from either side during the four-match Test series between India and Australia.

The constant verbal attack on Indian captain Virat Kohli by the Australian media and former players has continued with Brad Hodge, coach of IPL franchise Gujarat Lions now raising questions as to whether Virat Kohli missed the final Test of the series against Australia in Dharamsala to preserve himself for the IPL.Virat Kohli is missing out on the ongoing fourth and final Test of the series between India and Australia because of a serious shoulder injury he suffered during the third Test match in Ranchi. Now Hodge has speculated that it might be a strategy on part of the skipper, to preserve himself for the IPL.

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